Out-of-the-box marketing ideas

By Jerry Rackley

I recently attempted to dialogue with a journalist who was doing a story about out-of-the-box marketing ideas. I haven’t yet seen the story, but I was bold enough to make a prediction to her in my email:

"I suspect you'll get fewer, quality ideas than you'd like because the companies that are really good at coming up with these ideas use them to gain a competitive advantage. They're unlikely to pull back the curtain and let everyone see what they've got and how they do it."

Or, as a former boss of mine used to say, you're better off attending a presentation on best practices than giving one.

The greatness of out-of-the-box marketing ideas depends on context. I could come up with a fantastic idea (maybe two) for a B2B tech company that is senseless for a B2C, mom-and-pop retailer. And vice versa. The magic to developing "proven" ideas that are out-of-the-box is to consider what is unique about each product or service, the market for it and the environment in which it is sold.

Several years ago, I attended a large IT/tech trade show in Las Vegas. I had to use the men's room, and when I went in, I discovered that some IT security company that was exhibiting at the show had placed customized strainers in all the urinals that said "How do you know the guy next to you isn't looking at your downstream data?'" Absolutely brilliant, and I'm betting it didn't cost very much. And as you can see from this example, this great idea would only work for a few companies and in a few settings.

The simple fact that someone in the media will publish a list of out-of-the-box marketing ideas will put them into broader circulation, ultimately reducing their effectiveness. So if you discover an idea with lots of appeal, my advice is to jump right on it before everyone starts doing it and it loses its cachet.

It is good to share out-of-the-box marketing ideas, and I'm certainly not above copying someone else's brilliance.  The advice I would also give is to copy not just the idea, but also the process or culture that produced those ideas. It's just like the old adage: give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, but teach a man to fish and he feeds himself for a lifetime.